Investigation of sinter processes by studying interface dynamics of nanoparticles under thermal treatment

Sintering is the process of compacting inorganic material mainly by heating. Sintering is widely used in manufacturing, especially for metal and ceramic parts. During sintering, the atoms in the materials diffuse across grain boundaries and create one solid piece. As dominating sintering mechanisms, surface diffusion and grain boundary diffusion are established.

However, a detailed study of the atomic diffusion processes is difficult to achieve due to the macroscopic nature of the grains in commonly used materials. Nanoparticles, on the other side, allow for detailed investigations of such processes.

Thus, nanoparticles can act as model systems for rearrangement processes for any kind of inorganic materials that come in contact with each other and undergo thermal treatment.With this project, we intend to study the atomic rearrangement dynamics of nanoparticles when exposed to heat treatment. The project includes experimental ex- and in-situ studies as well as modeling.

The ex-situ experiments consist of investigations of the sinter processes of aerosol nanoparticles of tailored composition.

The in-situ studies will be conducted with an Environmental Transmission Electron Microscope that allows detailed observations of atomic movements in nanoparticles.

This will be accompanied by Molecular Dynamics simulations.In addition to an increased understanding of the sintering processes we foresee that this project can lead to ways of preventing compaction processes of nanoparticles.